


Young Love

by prubun



Series: RusPru One-Shots [28]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gakuen, High School, Jealousy, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 19:03:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20140456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prubun/pseuds/prubun
Summary: Ivan and Gilbert are best friends, but Ivan has had a crush on Gilbert for a long time. What will he do once his secret is out in the open?





	Young Love

**Author's Note:**

> ##  _Ivan barely touched his dinner that night, much to his parents' disapproval but he didn't care what they thought — teen angst was more important than his vegetables._
> 
> ****
> 
> **  
[Posted: August 1st, 2019]  
**
> 
> Written for [Yan](https://aminoapps.com/c/hetalian-jet/page/user/yan/v8x6_gQi2fwNXD3PDkN5kRWM6QPwWaRgl6) on Amino! Hope you all enjoy!  
Inspiration from these two comics: [[X](https://aminoapps.com/c/hetalian-jet/page/blog/rusprus-gakuen-au-doodle-dump/zwB3_vQixuDwnBe3zza0onzYX4XPZn88eE)] [[X](https://aminoapps.com/c/hetalian-jet/page/blog/more-gakuen-rusprus-bc-i-have-no-life/b2LW_PQFouBpJrvNG5rvQk4YX607L0vopb)]
> 
> Both Ivan and Gilbert are 17-years-old in this.

It hurt to watch someone so beautiful. Even at a distance, Gilbert's energy was felt in every corner of any room he was in. While Ivan was usually content with just watching him, a tiny coil of something nasty was beginning to twist in his stomach. 

Jealousy. 

Gilbert was always surrounded by people; it was one of the first things Ivan noticed about him. Always cheery, full of loud and sometimes annoying energy. A class clown and troublemaker who had some of the best grades among the other students. He was a wonderful person to hang around, and despite many of his friends thinking Ivan was scary, Gilbert treated him like anyone else. Ivan was bigger than the other students and sometimes had trouble communicating, but Gilbert always laughed it off and made him feel better about just being himself. 

Ivan never had a friend before Gilbert, so it wasn't surprising that he fell hard for him. It started as an innocent thing — a brief moment where he thought about them as an item, and the feeling lingered. Then came the intrusive thoughts at 2am when trying to sleep, thinking about what Gilbert was doing, if he was asleep or not. Over the months it escalated to looking at Gilbert's lips when he spoke to him, wondering how soft his lips were, and gazing at him longingly from a distance. 

Watching was perfectly okay for him. As much as he liked Gilbert, he didn't want to ruin his friendship with him because of romantic feelings. 

However, it was hard to watch someone so beautiful interact with his friends and not be standing next to him.

Jealousy was an ugly thing and Ivan knew it; it's why he never acted on his impulses. He simply watched from across the room as Gilbert laughed and talked with his friends. One boy was particularly friendly with him; An Italian man who Ivan only knew as Feli. A man who would touch Gilbert's arm and hug him from behind suddenly. The guy was nice and seemed sweet, but Ivan didn't like someone getting physical with Gilbert.

Then one day after classes, Ivan and Gilbert were still at their desks talking. Gilbert had been texting Feli, smiling at his phone and occasionally speaking to Ivan about how cute Feli was. Ivan disregarded it for the most part, but when Gilbert pondered the question aloud if Feli would go to dinner with him, Ivan felt his heart thump slow and hard with jealous anger. His hand clutched the fabric over his heart and he mumbled some halfhearted response.

"Oi, Ivan, you listening?" Gilbert leaned onto the desk, tilting his head a bit to inspect Ivan's face. The other twitched and looked up with wide eyes as if knocked from a daze. 

"What?" 

"I asked if you think I should go to dinner with Feli," Gilbert told him as he shook his phone towards him. Ivan pulled his scarf up a bit. 

"Oh, I don't know. If you want to, I guess you should go, right?" Ivan spoke quicker than normal and was clearly uncomfortable with the question. Gilbert didn't notice, though. 

A smile spread across Gilbert's lips and his eyes sparkled as he began to excitedly type on his phone. Ivan watched with narrow eyes, jealousy rising even more. A few minutes passed before Gilbert's phone went off and he quickly looked at it. Ivan didn't have to ask to know what was happening; the beautifully happy smile on Gilbert's face said it all — He was going on a date with Feli. 

Afterward, they split to go to their separate lockers to finish packing their belongings to go home. At this time, Gilbert would regularly meet with Ivan at his locker and they'd walk home together. This time, however, would be different.

As Gilbert made his way down the hall to Ivan, Ivan shut his locker and turned to Gilbert.

"Ready to head home?" Gilbert asked with that smile that usually made Ivan's heart soar, but this time it made him sad and he just stared at him.

"Actually, I'm going to walk home alone today, if that's okay?" He saw Gilbert's expression drop a bit once he understood the words, and he felt terrible for letting his feelings affect Gilbert indirectly, but he couldn't help it. The whole situation with Feli made him insanely jealous and he didn't want to bring Gilbert down with him.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Gilbert said, thrown off by Ivan's words and Ivan knew it. "I'll uh, see you Monday?" Ivan nodded in agreement and Gilbert smiled a little. 

The two said their goodbyes and each left the school through different doors. Ivan lived a bit further from school than Gilbert did, but he didn't mind taking a small detour each day to walk with Gilbert. Now the walk was entirely quiet, despite the sound of the city surrounding him. It felt like he was in a bubble —everything else was just a blur and a fuzzy sound around him. 

Ivan would glance over to his right expecting to see Gilbert there on his phone or excitedly ranting about something awesome that happened in class. It made him feel sad, but he knew it was his own fault that his only friend wasn't walking beside him. It felt empty — like a cold spot was beside him the entire time. Every day for the past year and a half they walked home together unless one of them was sick; it was like a ritual for them.

When Ivan got home, his sisters greeted him but he brushed them off and went to his room. He removed his school jacket, tossed his bag ungracefully onto the floor, and then collapsed onto his bed. When he closed his eyes, he could see Gilbert's smiling face as he waved at him to join him. Rolling over, he cuddled a pillow up to his face and felt himself blush. _He_ wanted to take Gilbert on a date. How long had he had a crush on him? Months? No, longer than that. At least a year, more likely. 

He remembered being completely taken by Gilbert the day they met — Ivan had transferred to his high school and everyone seemed scared of him for some reason. But not Gilbert. He went right up to Ivan and greeted him, introduced himself and let him know how lucky Ivan was to be in his awesome presence. _'What an obnoxious child'_, was Ivan's first thought, if he was honest, but then Gilbert smiled at him and everything changed. That was when he began falling in love with him, although he never realized it then.

Even now, Gilbert's friends worried that he hung out with Ivan too much; it used to hurt Ivan's feelings but Gilbert swore and yelled at anyone who said anything and eventually it stopped bothering Ivan completely. The moment he realized that he _liked_ Gilbert, though, was when rumors of them dating began to spread because of how often they were together. Gilbert didn't seem to even acknowledge the rumors, so Ivan never said anything about it, even if he _did_ have feelings for Gilbert. People were thinking that they were together; thinking that they were doing the things that Ivan secretly wanted to do. Of course, Ivan never mentioned anything, not even the rumors either, out of fear of being rejected, hated, and losing his only friend.

Yes, just watching Gilbert was okay for him. That's what he wanted to believe anyway. Seeing Gilbert so excited to go on a date with Feli made it even more obvious. He didn't want anyone else to have him; it was hard enough just seeing him with other people.

Ivan barely touched his dinner that night, much to his parents' disapproval but he didn't care what they thought — teen angst was more important than his vegetables. He went to bed early, and the last thing he remembered was thinking about Gilbert, and thinking how pathetic he was for being so selfish and stupid.

On Monday, Gilbert waited outside at the usual spot for Ivan to show up so they could walk to school together. He stuck around for a few minutes longer, pushing it to the last minute before he'd be late for school, but Ivan never showed. In fact, he didn't show up at school at all that day. 

After school, he texted Ivan and asked if he was okay. Ivan responded simply that he felt a little sick so he stayed home. Gilbert would usually pry until Ivan gave him every detail of his sickness and then go to his house to give him soup and a cold pack, but something told Gilbert to leave this one alone. For once, he let it go and walked home alone, which was still an unusual feeling.

The next morning, he waited once again and Ivan never showed up. At school, he was surprised when he walked in to see that Ivan was already in homeroom, at his desk working on something; probably some work he missed when he was absent. Gilbert sat at his desk behind Ivan's and intentionally made some racket to get his attention, which failed and only further irritated Gilbert.

Ivan was ignoring him.

Gilbert sat down, pouted, and crossed his arms.

"Good morning," Gilbert greeted with as much venom as a seventeen-year-old could. Ivan turned in his chair, still holding his pencil.

"Good morning. Sorry, I, uh, didn't see you come in..." he lied — he always watched for Gilbert to come in if they didn't walk together. 

"Feeling better today?" Gilbert asked.

"I am, thanks." Ivan turned back around before Gilbert could see the blush coloring his cheeks from the concern that Gilbert showed for him. "I missed a lot of homework though."

"There's a test coming up too. We can study together for it," Gilbert offered and Ivan tensed, clutching his pencil. He wasn't ready for that yet.

"I think I'll be fine, thank you though." It was killing him but all he could think about was Gilbert's date with Feli. He was so self-destructively curious and wanted to know if Gilbert had a good time, but selfishly wanted it to have gone badly; wanted Gilbert to say he wished Ivan was there instead. Until that feeling was gone, he didn't want to see Gilbert, but he also desperately wanted to. Ivan decided that he hated having feelings.

The next few days went pretty much the same way. Gilbert didn't mind at first — maybe Ivan was dealing with something at home he didn't want to talk about, and he wasn't the most perceptive so it took him nearly a full week to notice that Ivan only acted strange when he was around. Ivan was always an awkward one, but he usually seemed happy when with Gilbert. He was starting to think that maybe he did something wrong, but he didn't understand what.

One day after school, Gilbert made a decision and would confront Ivan about his weird behavior. Maybe not the best way to do it, but he waited outside near the exit of the school Ivan used. Hidden in the shadow of the building, he waited until he saw Ivan walk passed him.

"Ivan!" he yelled and Ivan jolted with a startled yelp. Ivan clutched his scarf and turned around to see Gilbert stood there in the shadow with his arms crossed and unimpressed pink eyes squinted at him.

Oh. Gilbert was angry.

"G-Gilbert? Why are you hiding there?" he asked with a shake to his voice; the way Gilbert was glaring at him made his heart skip a beat. 

Gilbert stepped out into the afternoon sunlight.

"Why are _you_ avoiding me?" he countered with his own question. He saw Ivan backing up like he was going to make a break for it, so he grabbed Ivan's arm, and despite being smaller than him, Gilbert pulled him and made him back up against the wall so he couldn't run. Ivan's cheeks reddened because Gilbert was standing just a foot away from him and giving him that same intense look as before. Gilbert didn't notice.

"You've been avoiding me for days. Why?" Gilbert questioned him and saw Ivan pull his hands to his chest as he got nervous.

"I...don't know what you're talking about." Ivan lied, badly.

"Like hell you don't!" Gilbert stepped even closer and growled. "We used to walk to school every morning, and walk home and hang out a lot! But lately you won't do anything with me! You've been acting weird since Monday and you won't even look me in the eye anymore. Did I do something that made you mad or something?"

Ivan glanced away. He realized that he messed up. Gilbert looked so angry with him, yet there was a sadness to his voice as well. Ivan just didn't want to lose his best friend due to his jealousy, and he thought he just needed time to calm down.

Gilbert saw Ivan's body language and stepped back to give him some room. His expression shifted to a softer one and a tiny blush tinted Gilbert's cheeks.

"Are you...weirded out by what people are saying about us? Is that why you won't look at me?"

Ivan lifted his head a bit.

"What people are saying...?" he knew that Gilbert was talking about the rumors, but they never addressed them. Not even once.

Gilbert groaned in embarrassment and crossed his arms. It was so awkward to talk about it. 

"People have been saying we're...dating. Is that why you're avoiding me? Is it bothering you?"

Ivan took a step forward, looking completely concerned and almost scared.

"No! It doesn't bother me at all!" Ivan told him

"Then what's wrong with you!? Why are you cutting me off!?"

The two stared at each other for a moment and Ivan blushed more before retracting into himself submissively, fingering at his scarf nervously.

"How... How was your date with Feli?" Ivan mumbled.

"What?" Gilbert raised a brow. "It was fun but why are you asking about that? That has nothing to do with—" He stopped when he realized just how red Ivan's face was, and how he was trying to press himself as flat against the wall as he physically could.

Some dots were connecting in Gilbert's head.

"Are you mad that I didn't invite you?" Gilbert asked and Ivan shook his head.

"I didn't expect you to..."

"Then what is it? Feli brought some of our other friends but you're not mad about not being invited, so why? What is going on with you?"

"Wait," Ivan said and perked up a bit. "Others were there? I thought it was a date...?"

Gilbert chuckled softly. 

"Not really. Ludwig was there too, I think Feli likes him, to be honest. Antonio and Francis tagged along because they're jerks who invite themselves. I would have invited you but by time I realized what was happening it was already too late," Gilbert explained. "Why are you so worried about if it was a date or not?"

Ivan finally looked up at Gilbert. His face was burnt red and his eyes were shining; he looked so submissive and vulnerable, and seeing Ivan like that made Gilbert blush a little as realization began to set in.

"Ivan, you..."

"I'm so sorry, Gilbert!" Ivan apologized and squeezed his eyes shut. His heart was beating so fast that it hurt. "I...I like you a lot, Gilbert, I have for a long time but I didn't want to say anything because I didn't know how you'd feel. I love our friendship, I didn't want to ruin it, and...and..." Ivan looked so flustered and couldn't even look in Gilbert's general direction. 

If he looked, he'd see Gilbert blushing and looking absolutely stunned.

Gilbert had no idea that Ivan had an actual crush on him, and that fact flustered him as well; he never really thought about there being any truth to the rumors and the jokes that people made. He never thought about dating Ivan or being romantic with him. Now that it was out in the open and it was all he could think about, the idea didn't seem so bad. In fact, he felt butterflies flutter in his stomach and his cheeks grew hotter the more he thought about it.

Ivan still looked so ashamed by his confession and it made Gilbert sad — how long had he been hiding it? He was jealous of Feli going out with him and cared so much about their friendship that he didn't want to risk making it something more.

"I'm sorry, Gilbert," Ivan finally spoke. "I understand if you don't want to be friends with me now, I just wanted—"

"Shut up," Gilbert muttered and stepped beside Ivan and leaned against the brick wall as well. "I'm...not mad... I...don't mind if you like me..."

Ivan snapped his eyes to Gilbert, who looked so cute and shy beside him. That expression of embarrassment; he must be feeling something as well, right?

"Gilbert?" Ivan inquired. "What are you saying?"

_'This is so not cool...'_ Gilbert mentally complained as he bit his lip, cheeks burning hotter. "I...don't mind... It's...cute... You're cute..." he mumbled like he didn't want to say it.

Ivan's eyes widened and he clutched at his heart again; it was beating so fast still.

"Gilbert... Do you...like me too?" he asked with hope in his voice. Gilbert shyly glanced away.

"Maybe... A little..." 

Ivan smiled and carefully slid his hand into Gilbert's, making him loosen his arms across his chest.

"Then... can we maybe walk home like this?" Ivan asked. "Maybe you can figure out if you like me or not."

Gilbert pouted and blushed more. Why was Ivan so damn cute all of a sudden? Had he always been this cute?

"I guess we can try it..." Gilbert said, despite already knowing the answer.

Ivan squeezed Gilbert's hand. Already it felt clammy and awkward, but it felt warm and nice. Ivan went to take a step away but Gilbert pulled back on his hand.

"Wait, what if someone sees us?" Gilbert questioned worriedly.

"Well... Everyone already thinks we're dating, right? Is that okay?" Ivan realized that he might be moving too fast for Gilbert, whereas he'd probably marry Gilbert now if he asked.

"N-No, it's fine... Let's go home." Gilbert still sounded nervous. He never felt this way before, he couldn't make his heart calm down and his face was redder than Ivan's was now. Why? Ivan was the one who confessed. Gilbert just wanted to try holding hands. 

It's not like he had been suppressing his feelings or anything.

Gilbert felt Ivan walk forward and gently tug him into the sunlight. They began to head towards the direction of Gilbert's house and eventually came to an area where a few students were still wandering around. Gilbert was clearly nervous to be seen and moved close to Ivan for some sort of protection. Some people saw them and whispered to each other but nothing more.

Then they saw Antonio and Francis. Gilbert tensed up. He knew it was those two who started the rumors in the first place and felt weird about being seen by them.

"Don't worry, Gilbert. I'm right here beside you. I always will be." Ivan smiled, cheeks red. He was so happy; he had everything he wanted.

"Okay..." Gilbert tried to be comforted by his words and it helped. Until the other two saw them. Their eyes lit up and they looked so proud and pleased with themselves.

"Hey! So you two are finally together!" Antonio yelled, waving happily and getting other students' attention.

"Good luck, lovebirds! Don't do anything I would do!" Francis yelled, and then pulled Antonio close to mimic making out with him. He even lifted one leg to Antonio's hip for more emphasis. 

"Shut up, you morons!" Gilbert yelled, red as a tomato. Ivan thought the display was rather amusing. In his embarrassment, Gilbert gripped Ivan's hand tight and began to aggressively pull him away towards home.

Ivan giggled and watched Gilbert ahead of him, pulling him along the path. He could see that the tips of Gilbert's ears were as red as his face and found it adorable.

"That looked kind of fun," Ivan commented after a moment with a small grin. "That whole kissing thing..."

Gilbert flinched and turned his head around.

"Shut up! Don't let those idiots put ideas in your head!"

Ivan walked a bit faster to get next to Gilbert. He gently nuzzled his cheek against Gilbert's soft hair and squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry, I don't want to rush. I want to treasure every moment with you."

Gilbert didn't know how to feel or act so he just grumbled in embarrassment. Ivan had completely messed up his head with his confession. He never thought of Ivan like this before but now he couldn't stop thinking about holding his hand and kissing him. 

_'How do people even do that?'_ he wondered in panicked confusion. _'I am not asking Francis...'_

The only thing he did know was that the feeling in his chest that made his heart race, that made him blush and give him butterflies, was all Ivan's fault.

And that feeling was happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun writing this little fic. I've never written a high school AU before and it was just so cute and sweet and innocent; I loved writing every word of it.
> 
> —
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
Remember to leave a comment and share if you enjoyed! Thank you! 💕
> 
> **—**
> 
> **Social links:** <https://linktr.ee/prubun>


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